Monday night’s first round of a powerful atmospheric river brought rain, lashing wind and power outages to hundreds of homes in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.
Valerie Thaler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said wind speeds reached a peak of 62 mph Monday at the Spokane International Airport around 10:30 p.m. Felts Field in Spokane Valley recorded 51 mph winds.
She said most other wind speeds in the area ranged between 30 and 45 mph. Gusts died down and slipped below 40 mph around 2 a.m. Tuesday.
This specific atmospheric river, which started in the Philippines, is a slow-moving force that’s pummeling the Pacific Northwest not only with wind but also with water.
Thaler said she hadn’t heard of any reports of flooding in the Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Metro area. The Spokane Airport received only 0.21 inches of rain on Monday night, Thaler said.
As of 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, Avista’s interactive power outages map reported nine active outages affecting 26 customers. David Vowels, the senior communications manager at Avista, said 1,574 customers were without power by around midnight Monday.
With more than 400,000 customers across the Northwest, Vowels said, the outages Monday night were far from significant. Inland Power’s outage map reported there were no active outages as of 3:45 p.m. Tuesday. Around midnight on Monday, Inland Power reported there were 106 customers without power, most of which were in the Deer Park, Mount Spokane and North Spokane area.
Thaler said residents of the region can expect wind speeds of up to 45 mph into Wednesday afternoon. These winds, though less intense than Monday night’s, aren’t expected to subside until early Thursday.
Along with the wind and rain, the storm has also brought unseasonably warm temperatures. Thaler said Wednesday’s high is supposed to reach 55 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 5 degrees short of the Dec. 10 highest-recorded temperature.
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